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Kota Kinabalu goes green with new eco-friendly building requirements

Going green is a concept still in its infancy stage in Malaysia, but it’s growing. Kota Kinabalu for one has recently announced all buildings to send in their Overall Transfer Thermal Value (OTTV) and Roof Insulation submissions, effective August. Following this, the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) will seek the counsel of the Malaysian Green Building Confederation (MGBC) to set up necessary policies and guidelines to facilitate this. Soon, all buildings, both residential and non-residential, will have to comply.

The KK government owes their inspiration to Singapore. There, OTTV submission has been compulsory for all non-residential buildings, and roof insulation, for all buildings, for more than 10 years. Their compliance comes as no surprise, as on the global front, OTTV submission has long been an effective metric to measure and curb carbon footprints.

Moving forward

The announcement could not have come at a better time. However small, Malaysia’s efforts in developing sustainability in present policies are evident. The Green Building Index (GBI) meanwhile has been educating developers and contractors on eco-friendliness since 2008. And the year of 2015 saw Bursa Malaysia mandating reports of environmental, social and governance (ESG) from all listed companies.

So it isn’t too much to say that we foresee Malaysia walking alongside Sweden one day in the green arena. Perhaps the appreciation for Nature would become so strong among Malaysians that our future generations could comprehend eco-friendly building requirements as early as in school. For now it is all a dream, but now that the intention is set, it’s much easier to get there. And get there, we will.

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